Socks with Toe Puppets

ABSTRACT

The invention provides a pair of socks (mainly “toe socks” where each toe is individually isolated in its own sock compartment) which offers a variety of detailed, engineered art that covers each toe with an image of either person, place or thing. The custom toe images allow the wearer of the socks to “animate” the toes of the socks by wiggling each digit, creating a puppet effect. The wearer of the socks is able to interact with the ten “toe puppets” either for personal entertainment (as with a small child or baby) or to entertain/educate others in imaginable play.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This invention claims priority, under 35 U.S.C. .sctn. 120 to the U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/917060

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates broadly to puppets, and more particularly, pertains to socks adapted to depict puppets which are animated by the motion of one's individual digits while wearing the socks.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Although the prior art is replete with puppets providing animated movement through the use of two or more digits or fingers, there has been limited development in creating puppets for digits of the feet. One example of a puppet that would adorn an individual human toe(s) is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,830,035 issued on Nov. 3, 1998 to Budreck. In the Budreck patent, the toe puppet must be mounted onto the digit and is a bulky addition that would need to be taken off before walking or wearing shoes.

In comparison to the Budreck patent, Sock with Toe Puppets allows the wearer to not only interact with the toe images, but when the toe puppets are not “performing”, the wearer of the invention can utilize the socks as one normally would wear a pair of socks, easily and comfortably walking and/or slipping on shoes over the socks.

Therefore, inventions such as is covered by the Budreck patent and other puppets/toys, may fail to properly obscure the appendage, may fail to stay affixed to the appendage, may be uncomfortable, may be expensive, and/or may be difficult to manufacture.

Aside from puppets/toys that must be adhered or mounted onto human digits, the only other method of creating educational/entertaining interaction with human feet would be via whimsical foot slippers., Slippers tend to be padded, bulky and not recommended for wearing outdoors.

For all prior arts researched, there are no other puppet/toy inventions for the feet that both entertain and can be utilized for normal walking activities.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention advantageously provides a novelty of amusement in the form of fashionable socks with toe puppets that can be interacted with, but then also worn as a regular sock by slipping on a closed shoe or sandal without any hindrances whatsoever.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will become easily understood by reference to the following two drawings:

FIG. 1 is a view of a sock with toe puppets for a left human foot. As shown, there are five individual “puppets”, one for each toe compartment on the left foot.

FIG. 2 is a view of a sock with toe puppets for a right human foot. As shown, there Are five individual “puppets”, one for each toe compartment on the right foot.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown a sock with toe puppet images for a left human foot. The images are shown in this figure as facing up, but there could easily be a mirror image on the bottom of the toes as well. The remainder of this figure shows simple stripes, but a variety of “stage images”/designs could be used to compliment the characters that the toes depict (i.e. if the socks were to depict nurses as the images/puppets, the image that covers the remainder of the sock could then be a hospital waiting room, doctor's office, etc. How elaborate the design that compliments the toe puppet characters depends on whether the sock is a knee-hi length or ankle length. The image shown in FIG. 1 is supposed knee-high length. Referring now to FIG. 2, please see FIG. 1 as FIG. 2 has the same embodiments as the example above.

It should also be noted that aside from depicting characters on individual toes via socks with individual compartments for all ten toes, one could easily choose to depict several images side by side at the toe area without having individualized compartments—the wearer in this example would then need to wiggle all toes together in order to animate the toe puppet characters. It would be safe to say that this invention would cover both socks with toe puppets as individual puppet characters, and also as a group of characters depicted on non-toe-sock socks.

Finally, it is envisioned that the components of this invention may be constructed of a variety of materials including, but not limited to fabric and/or fibers of natural or synthetic origins. The embellishments which create the designs of the toe puppets can be done via a variety of formats other than digital, embroidery, hand-painting, stamping, applique or other means as long as the socks remain wearable with comfort and remaining able to slip on a shoe without hindrance.

Thus, while the present invention has been fully described above with particularity and detail in connection with what is presently deemed to be the most practical and preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that numerous modifications, including, but not limited to, variations in size, materials, and concepts of the invention as set forth in the claim. 

1. A pair of fashionable socks with ten individual toe compartments, each compartment embellished with an engineered art design of person, place or thing to create a puppet effect. The image on each toe could be created by a variety of methods, including digial printing, embroidery, hand-painting, stamping, or applique onto the already sewn socks, or the images could be created during the actual knitting/weaving of the socks. The ten “toe puppet” images would be either on the top, bottom or both top/bottom of each toe. The remainder of the sock would also exhibit a whimsical design, thus creating a “stage” or abstract effect. 